Embracing Christmas
by waterlilylf
Summary: Duo may choose to be alone and miserable at Christmas, but a very determined couple has a quite different plan for him. Yaoi. 1x5.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: As is possibly obvious, Gundam Wing does not belong to me.

Note: This is set in the 'Rainy Day' universe, and takes place approximately six months before the first RD story. Happy Christmas!

Many thanks to KS for the title(s) and last line, as per usual. Why mess with tradition at Christmas?

Warnings: 1x5, background 3x4. Duo angst at Christmas….with a little glimmer of hopeful sap at the end.

**Embracing Christmas:**

**(AKA I Know What I Want for Christmas and It Isn't a Sweater)**

It was only a Christmas card.

Not even a special one; one of the girls in HR volunteers at an animal shelter and she'd been selling cards for weeks to raise funds for it. I'd actually been given three or four with the same design; a baby donkey wearing a Christmas wreath. I'd spent a fair bit of time the last two weeks scribbling cards under my desk to people whose names I hadn't even known 'til they'd sent me one.

It all seemed a bit pointless, really.

This was the only card I was bothering to carry around with me, instead of just stuffing at the back of my drawer.

Stupid.

The message was nice enough; although after nearly a year working on Earth I knew it was customary to address people as 'Dear' when you were writing to them, and to finish with 'love'.

It didn't mean anything.

'Hope you have a wonderful time with Hilde on L2. We'll do something when you get home. Happy Christmas.'

Yeah. Sure.

The L2 thing…I hadn't exactly lied about going away for Christmas. People had made assumptions that I'd want to spend the holiday with my best friend and I hadn't bothered to correct them.

The 'do something when you get home' bit was kind. Another little of charity toward poor, lonely Duo. Sometimes, when I was really low, I wondered if Quat had pressured them into spending time with me, trying to take me out of myself, or if maybe it was a direct order from Une.

I knew that she'd asked them to 'keep an eye' on me when I'd first started; presumably to make sure I wasn't going to go crazy with an automatic weapon or something. Even the Preventers Press Office would have a hard time putting a positive spin on that sort of thing.

Preventers hiring policies suck. I'd assumed I'd be able just to rack up and be handed a badge and gun and whatever; in reality, I'd had to go through psych assessments and interviews and all sorts of shit.$ I'd come really close to just giving up, except I hadn't really had a Plan B at that point.

Plan A was bad enough; go to work for the psycho woman who'd wanted me dead not so long ago.

It didn't make sense, though. They'd given red carpet treatment and special agent status to the guy who'd done his best to destroy the Earth; their damn commander had wanted to blow up the colonies and have me executed on global TV.

I'd gone on a few drinking binges after Dylan died, and got into a few fights and I'd been treated like I was the crazy one.

So Heero and Wufei had been assigned to babysit me for a while. Even after it was pretty obvious that I was relatively sane, they still kept it up, trying to include me on stuff. I knew they meant it kindly, but it's not so much fun playing gooseberry all the time.

Whatever.

They'd been sending me Christmas cards ever since the war ended. This was the first one they'd both signed, though it was their third year together. The first year, I'd got separate ones. They'd been a couple for only a few months then; presumably not close enough to send joint cards.

The second year, Dylan had just died. They'd obviously thought it wasn't appropriate to send any sort of card with 'happy' in the title to someone who'd lost his boyfriend a few weeks previously. They'd both come to the funeral service.

This year's card was from Wufei and Heero.

I'd been trying to figure out how they'd decided whose name went first. Why not Heero and Wufei? Why was it always Quatre and Trowa, Hilde and Maddox, Zechs and Noin?

It was clearly one of those couple things that I didn't know about.

Dylan and I had never got into the card sending thing, so it had never come up. Christmas isn't a big deal on L2. I still couldn't believe just how insane it was on Earth. It was only a day; I didn't get what all the fuss was about.

It hadn't been practical to shut down the entire Preventers organisation, but they were on a skeleton staff so that agents with families could spend time with them and do whatever it was people did on Christmas Day. Eat turkey and write even more cards to people you hardly knew and put more stuff on your tree, probably.

I hadn't bothered to get a tree or any of that stuff. It hadn't been any particular hardship to volunteer to work an extra shift on Christmas Day; I'd ended up in a little room in the IT department, monitoring our firewalls. It was OK. I'd come off actual agent duty, guarding an L3 ambassador, at six am, gone home to shower and change and snatch a couple of hours' sleep, and then come straight in.

The person who usually worked in this office was a total Christmas freak. They had a little tree, and cards on every available surface and an advent calendar and whatnot. Une had issued a directive a couple of weeks ago banning all this stuff, but no one had paid any attention. Every Heero had his cards displayed on his desk, and Wufei had a wreath on his office door.

I knew they had a tree at home as well because they'd invited me along to pick one out. Just like they'd asked me to go with them to go with them to the outdoor skating rink, and to a little pre-Christmas party they'd held.

I'd thanked them politely and refused, claiming I had to work on each occasion.

It was pretty much true. Last Thursday, the first anniversary of Dylan's death, I'd driven out to the coast after my shift ended. He'd always wanted to see the ocean. He would have loved it.

I thought Hereo and Wufei were finally getting the message; over the last couple of days, they'd pretty much left me alone. I was trying hard to convince myself that it was a good thing. I didn't need them. They sure as hell didn't need me in the perfect lives they'd managed to craft for themselves, all sparkly Christmas lights and candy canes.

I couldn't see why they were making such a big deal of the Christmas thing. It wasn't like either of them was Christian or came from a culture that celebrated the holiday.

Yet another thing I couldn't understand about them.

I was so sure they'd have got together straight after the war. It had taken a couple of years, though. I'd seen them, after all, on the Lunar Base, when they thought I was asleep. They'd held each other and I'd tried so hard to be happy for them.

I'd known from the start that I hadn't had the ghost of a chance with Heero, despite some of the things Quat had said. I'd assumed Relena was the one he was interested in, I'd been so sure he was straight.

It had been Wufei all along though and as soon as the war ended, I'd headed for L2 so fast a Gundam couldn't have caught me. It would have hurt too damn much watching them together. I'd spent the next couple of years wondering what the hell was going on with them. They worked together as partners, but that seemed to be as far as it went.

I'd starting wondering if, just maybe, I should steel myself and say something to Heero. We still kept in touch; fairly factual emails about his job and my business and what the others were up to. I knew he liked me; I knew he was gay. Maybe….it wasn't such an impossible dream.

During the war, Quatre had thought Heero had been interested in me. That was Quatre, though. He'd met the love of his life, who conveniently adored him back, and wanted everyone in the universe to be that happy.

I'd been considering taking a holiday to Earth when Quat had called and said Heero and Wufei had both gone to a conference in Paris and come back in a state of very definite togetherness. He'd tried so hard to cheer me up but what could he say, really? I'd lost Heero, and it wasn't like I could ever have competed with Wufei anyway. Heero deserved someone special and Wufei was educated and cultured and ambitious and downright droolably gorgeous.

Two weeks later, Dylan had wandered into the scrap-yard looking for work, and I'd ended up with a boyfriend of my own.

Fast forward a year and I'd lost the boyfriend, lost the business, and was working for the woman who'd once probably topped her Christmas list with the severed head of Duo Maxwell.

Go figure.

God, this was boring. Wufei and Heero had started to pressure me recently about giving up the field agent thing after I'd been injured on a couple of missions. That was another surprise; I couldn't imagine either of them enjoying desk jobs, but of course they both had special qualifications. Heero pretty much ran Preventers IT security and Wufei was in Oriental Affairs. I didn't have anything like that to offer and now way was I going to end up sitting behind a desk and updating spreadsheets or something.

Another hour to go.

Then I could go home, heat up whatever leftovers were lurking in the fridge, watch some unChristmassy crap on TV and ….

I had my gun out as soon as I heard footsteps outside the door. Just in case. There was no one else working on this corridor; no one was supposed to be here until my replacement arrived.

'Duo!' The door open to reveal Mr. Heero Yuy himself, in all the glory of a red sweater patterned with little snowmen. 'Put the gun away. You know there are regulations about drawing firearms in Preventer HQ!'

'Maxwell!' Wufei pushed past his partner. His sweater was bottle-green; not a great colour on him, and he had tiny reindeer. 'What the hell are you doing here?'

'I could ask you the same question,' I said mildly.

Heero shut the door behind them, looking slightly defensive. 'I thought Monica Croft was covering this shift and she's not very experienced. I was monitoring her from my laptop and she was accessing programmes she shouldn't have been able to. We were driving home from Sally's anyway and I thought I'd better come in and..'

'Heero, that's not important,' Wufei interrupted. 'Duo, what are you doing here? You told us you'd be on L2 for the holidays?'

'I didn't.' I tried to sound flip about the whole thing. 'Everyone just assumed and I didn't bother to say anything.'

A few weeks ago, I'd mentioned that Hilde had invited me to visit for Christmas. Everyone had been more than happy to go along with that; it relieved them of the need to invite me to their celebrations. Everyone was happy.

'All right' Wufei took a deep breath. 'Why did you …. let us assume that you'd be there?'

I shrugged. 'Look, it's no big deal, OK? It was my fault. I left booking the flights too late. They were way too expensive for a couple of days.'

That was true. Of course, I'd left it too late on purpose.

'What's with the clothes anyway?' I changed tack, going for the famous Duo-joker approach. 'Did you guys mug a couple of Santa's elves or something?'

Wufei had the grace to look slightly embarrassed; Heero obviously didn't care. The guy had all the fashion sense of a soggy cracker. 'Sally knitted them for us. I thought she'd made one for you as well.'

Oh, right. That would be the big floppy parcel she'd pressed into my arms a couple of days ago. Another surprise; people had given me actual gifts. All wrapped up in holly strewn paper and tied with shiny little bows and cards. More cards. I hadn't known I was supposed to buy presents.

I'd dumped all the stuff in a corner of my bedroom, until I got around to opening it. One day, when I was starting to feel less guilty. Maybe I could just get everyone New Year gifts instead.

At least Heero and Wufei hadn't bothered to get me anything.

Heero just glared at me. I should have known changing the conversation around to clothes wouldn't work with him. 'You should have _told_ us your plans had changed, Duo. It's Christmas. You shouldn't be working here by yourself.'

'Apart from anything else,' Wufei cut in, 'there are regulations on how long a field agent can work on one shift. I know you were working all day yesterday

'I'm not working. I'm sitting on my ass, answering the occasional 'phone call and monitoring a security system. I finish in less than an hour and then I'll go home and sleep. Is that acceptable?'

'No,' Heero snapped. 'It isn't. It's Christmas Day. You can't spend the whole day working and then go home alone.'

'Sure I can. I can do anything I damn well want. You guys can go and pull stockings or hang decorations on each other or whatever you want, but Christmas doesn't mean anything to me.'

'Then why have you got our card on the desk?' Wufei shot at me.

Oh, yeah.

I shrugged. 'I must've shoved it my pocket after you gave it to me the other day. I'd forgotten all about it. Now, are we done? I'm supposed to be working here and I'm sure you guys have a party or something to go to.'

They exchanged glances like I'd insulted their honour or something. Then Heero came over and perched on the desk. Not fair. He looked great in red, and he was wearing a new aftershave or cologne or something. To add insult to injury, he reached out and tweaked my braid a little. He was the only person I ever let touch my hair.

'What's wrong?' His hand slid up my braid, and cupped the back of my neck, massaging very, very gently. 'You're awfully tense.'

'Nothing,' I muttered. 'Everything's shiny. I guess I'm just tired and I don't get all this Christmas crap and fuck, can you _stop_ touching me like that?'

'I'm sorry!' His hand jerked away like I'd shot him. He looked utterly, positively stricken. I'd never, in a zillion years, have pegged Heero as the touchy-feely type, but he'd started …touching me in the last few months. All very innocuous; he'd found me upset one day after a job had gone to hell and back and a kid had got caught in the crossfire and he'd hugged me, and since then I'd been getting the occasional squeeze on the shoulder or whatever.

'Enough,' Wufei said sharply. Shit, with Heero's hand on my skin, I'd almost forgotten that his boyfriend was there too. I still didn't get him. He was friendly enough and tolerated Heero inviting me out with them; we'd even spent some time together, just the two of us and found we actually had quite a lot in common. He'd mellowed a lot since the upright, honour-obsessed teenager he'd been during the war.

Of course, Wufei didn't know that I'd lost my heart to his boyfriend the first time we'd met, and that nothing, not my being with Dylan or Heero being with him, had changed that.

That would just be the best way ever to kill off the hesitant friendship that we were developing. Just to seal my death warrant, I could always drop the bombshell that I found Wufei himself pretty attractive as well.

Yeah, that would be a really easy way to commit suicide.

Lately, I'd been finding excuses not to meet up with them so much. Apart from the fact that they didn't need me cramping their style, I'd noticed a few odd looks from Wufei when he thought I wasn't paying attention. He's a super-smart guy; maybe he'd caught me watching Heero and put two and two together.

He was giving me one of those strange, unreadable glances now.

'Duo, I called your replacement. She'll be here in five minutes, and then you are coming home with us for dinner. All right?'

'No!' God, the two of them were totally doing my head in. Heero was looking like a whipped kitten and Wufei was ordering me around. 'When my replacement arrives, I am going home. Alone. And I don't appreciate you trying to run my life for me, just for the record.'

'No, you're damn well not!' He moved up to stand beside Heero, sliding an arm around his boyfriend's waist. Just rubbing my nose in all their lovely cosy couple-ness. 'You are trying your best to ignore the entire world and you can't live like that. You haven't taken part in any of the Christmas events; you never see people outside work unless you're forced into it. You're obviously miserable.'

'Maybe I like being miserable!' I yelled back. 'And Christmas is nothing to do with me. It's not my religion, I don't believe in God, I don't believe in _any_ of that crap so why should I try to get involved with it?'

Heero lifted his head. 'Is it so awful to spend one day a year celebrating with family and friends? And before you say it, you _do_ have friends. You have people who would love to spend time with you if you didn't keep pushing them away.'

'Whatever,' I said wearily, standing up. 'If you guys are so determined to hang around here, you can wait 'til my replacement comes up. And don't worry; when I'm talking to Quat I'll tell him you tried really hard to get me to come to your place.'

They both stared at me.

Wufei shook his head. 'I don't know what you're talking about. What does Quatre have to do with any of this?'

'He's the one who gets you to do all this, right? Asking me along to stuff, making sure I'm not alone all the time? Well, I'm sick of it, OK? I can look after myself. I don't need any more of your charity, thanks very much. You can donate to the hospital or something if your social conscience is bothering you.'

I always forget how fast Heero can move when he wants. I got maybe two steps closer to the door before he was in front of me, hands clutching my arms. 'Do you really believe that?' The pain in his eyes was a living thing. 'That we only want to spend time with you because Quatre asks us, or because we feel sorry for you?'

I shrugged. 'Maybe.' Maybe it was better to have this out for once and for all. I didn't need them babying me. And spending time with them hurt so damned much, seeing them together and happy and in love. Maybe it would be easier if I just never saw them.

'Oh, Duo.' There was a weird little catch in Heero's voice, and then I was somehow in his arms and it felt so good it had to be wrong but I just couldn't quite bring myself to move and he was probably too strong anyway.

He just stroked my back and murmured my name and let me get his sweater all soggy. At some point Wufei was there as well; a warm, solid body at my side and that felt good too.

And wrong.

They were trying to be nice and comforting and I was thinking and feeling stuff that I wasn't allowed to.

'Come home with us?' Heero invited, very softly, and I had just enough strength to shake my head, just once.

'Why?' Wufei asked, his voice just as quiet. 'Why won't you come to our home anymore?'

'It hurts.'

What the hell? I hadn't meant to say that. Might as well go for broke. It wasn't like they could still have any shreds of respect for me by this stage, breaking down when I was meant to be working. 'Seeing you together, it hurts.'

'It shouldn't.' That was Heero, his arms folding me even tighter. 'It doesn't have to hurt.' It wasn't a hug now; not the sort of hug you might give a colleague, or even a friend. It was an embrace. Sliding my arms around his waist, I knew Wufei would probably slice my head off for the presumption. That would be how I'd end my first Christmas on Earth; in a bloodbath. Well, it would end all the misery.

They're both damn possessive of each other. I'd heard shocked, whispered conversations at the water cooler about what had happened to a new weapons instructor who'd got that bit close to Heero when demonstrating a new handgun. And I knew the rumours about how badly Heero had reacted to the woman in Accounts who'd asked Wufei on a date. It doesn't pay to piss off a genius computer hacker.

When I made the first, feeble effort to pull away, Heero made an exasperated little sound and tugged my braid. 'Duo, you are the most stubborn, _dense_ person either of us has ever met. What do we have to do to convince you we want to be with you?'

'Maybe we need to show him.' Wufei's voice behind me, incredibly, sounded rather amused. 'We've tried subtlety and taking things slowly and he seems to think we've been considering him a charity case.'

'You could be right, love.' Heero's voice floated over my consciousness, somehow permeating the _what-the-fuck_ fog that had taken over my brain, and then pressed a kiss to the top of my head.

Instead of reaching for his katana, Wufei tilted my chin so I was looking at him. He's really big into maintaining his personal space; I'd never been so close to him before. His face was close enough that I could see tiny amber-gold flecks in his dark eyes, close enough that I could feel his breath on my skin. He smelt like Christmas; chocolate and candy canes.

They'd been visiting Sally; Heero and Wufei are godparents to her twins. I had a sudden vision of Wufei lying on the floor with the two little toddlers crawling all over him, stuffing him with candy.

'Come home with us tonight, Duo. Please.'

And then he kissed me, with me wrapped in his partner's arms.

Christmas lights and candy canes! It all made sense at last……


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: The GW characters do not belong to me.

Note: Many thanks to the wonderful Kaeru Shisho, for another year of shared stories and unending support (not to mention talking horses, painted bottles and sexy cowboys!).

Happy Christmas to everyone!

**Chapter 2:**

These are the things I got for Christmas. Calendars from my local garage and drycleaners, thanking me for my custom during the year. A little pile of gifts that I hadn't got around to opening, feeling vaguely guilty that I didn't deserve them since I hadn't bought anything in return. A full day's overtime at treble pay.

A kiss from Chang Wufei.

He'd kissed me. That was what people did at Christmas. For the last couple of weeks, people had been carrying bunches of mistletoe around to wave over the heads of anyone they fancied. A few daring souls had even planted a smacker on Une's lips.

Ugh.

Serious nightmare fodder.

It was just another one of those traditions that I didn't understand but didn't really seem to mean anything at all.

If I'd allowed myself to believe it had meant more than that, for a few seconds, in my head, then that was my fault.

Nobody else's.

There were too many things that I just wasn't allowed to think about. OK, I'd think about nothing else once I got home. I'd probably spend the rest of my life reliving that brief moment of being embraced by the two of them, but not on the drive to their house, in their car.

This was ….not the best time to think about the aching sweetness of Wufei's mouth moving over mine, of Heero's lean body pressed against me.

Dangerous thoughts, Duo.

Just another hopeless fantasy because that sort of thing only happened in porn movies.

After the kiss, I'd somehow ended up bundled in my coat, and walking out of the building between the two of them. There were plenty of other people coming and going in the building as the early shift finished. I'd left HQ with them plenty of times before so it shouldn't have been a big deal.

It was.

I wimped out of the conversation entirely by sliding into the backseat of the car, looking out of the window and listening to them bicker about the quickest way home.

Their house had a nice wreath on the door, and lights on the tree in the front garden. More Christmas stuff inside; cards everywhere and a huge tree. The one they'd invited me along to buy, but I'd made some excuse.

I probably should have made more excuses not to come this time as well.

Wufei shed his hideous sweater once he was through the door; underneath he had a tight black t-shirt. Gulp. Heero was supposed to be the one I was interested in; God, I was fickle.

There was an odd little moment in the hall where we just looked at each other, and then Heero grinned at me. 'If you'd like to change out of uniform, you can borrow something of ours. You know where everything is.'

I grabbed the escape clause and legged it upstairs. I'd been in their room before because when they'd first moved in, I'd helped them to redecorate. It was all dark chocolate and cream. Very masculine and elegant and, naturally, immaculately tidy.

It was still a room that people lived in though. On each of the bedside tables there were books and a little jumble of possessions. There were candles on the dresser, and a few framed photographs. I was in two of them; a group shot of the five of us from the war, and one of just me with Wufei and Heero. We were all dressed up, so it had probably been some function or other. There were some black and white prints of Paris hanging above the bed, and a couple of calligraphy scrolls.

They had the lamps I'd given them as a housewarming present on each side of the bed. They were nothing special; just long tubes of raw linen in a burnt orange colour, but they'd looked good lit up in the shop. They looked right in my friends' bedroom too, the colour matching the duvet set I'd persuaded them to buy; swirls of orange on a background of dark brown. It was nice to imagine them glowing at night, while my friends read or talked, and then turning them out and moving into each other's arms.

Or maybe they liked the lights on so they could see each other?

Feeling a bit uncomfortable, even though they'd told me to do it, I rummaged a bit through their closet and found sweat pants and a t-shirt, and then couldn't work out what to do with my own clothes. I couldn't just leave them lying on the floor, and it seemed a bit cheeky to chuck them in the laundry hamper. In the end, I settled for rolling them up into as small as pile as possible, and hid them behind the bathroom door.

Then I made sure I hadn't inadvertently created any excess mess, making a mental note that I needed to clean up my own room at some point. In other people's houses, you could actually see the floor. I could even do a bit of painting or whatever; I hated the pistachio-green colour of my walls, but I'd never quite got around to doing anything about them.

They were both in the kitchen when I ran downstairs, Wufei chopping vegetables and Heero stirring something in a pot. My offer to help was laughed off; instead I got a glass of wine and was told to sit down and relax.

There were a couple of new photos on their fridge that were presumably from the Preventers' Christmas party. Some party invitations for New Year. A shopping list in Heero's neat writing, with a few things that Wufei had added. In one corner, a little yellow post it note.

_Gone for a run. Back at 7. H. xx.  
_

I sighed, taking another sip of my wine, reading the note again. A little slice of their lives together. I could imagine Wufei cooking dinner and waiting for the sound of the front door opening, ready to greet his partner with a kiss.

God, if Heero had ever written me something like that, I'd have kept it tucked away in my wallet. They didn't just have sex, those two. They had a life together.

And I was really going to have to stop obsessing about the two of them.

Given what Christmas-philes they'd become, I'd fully expected the full turkey banquet, but Heero told me, sounding almost ashamed of the fact, that neither of them really liked turkey all that much. I couldn't care less. I bought turkey slices sometimes, if they were on sale at the supermarket, and they were OK but not that amazing.

Instead there were crab cakes to start, and then some sort of shellfish stew, and a platter of exotic fruit salad.

It was nice.

We talked about Sally's kids, and Wufei's trip to Thailand the previous month, and the new laptop Heero had bought and nothing remotely personal.

Then again, why would we have?

After I'd insisted on helping with washing up and putting away leftovers, Heero took out some old black and white movies he'd bought on the internet, and switched on the TV.

Plonked awkwardly on one end of their couch, I stared at the screen and thought resolutely about how lucky I was. I had two good friends who were kindly allowing me to share their lives on this special day.

Instead of having to go home to an achingly empty apartment, I had company and a bright fire and the murmur of voices commenting on the film, or gently teasing each other.

I was incredibly lucky.

According to people I'd overheard at work, I was doing the Christmas tradition of vegging out in front of an open fire after binging on enough rich food to support a third world country. Yay, me. Following traditions and everything. The next step was apparently to doze off and I thought maybe it wouldn't hurt just to close my eyes for one second.

When I woke up it was dark, with just the glow of the TV and the fire. No Wufei. But I'd somehow moved in my sleep and was lying against Heero's shoulder.

'God, Heero! I'm so sorry!'

He just chuckled and slid an arm around me so I couldn't pull away.

'Don't be silly.' We were so close that I could feel his breath over my skin when he spoke. Dangerously close.

Of course I should have jerked away. I should. But I was still half-asleep, and it felt so good to lie against him like that that I just couldn't.

'Good movie?' I asked, suddenly realising that thought the images on screen were still flickering, the sound had been turned down to a low background hum.

'Mmmm.' He sounded pretty much as drowsy as I felt, and I suddenly realised he'd been asleep too. 'Don't know. I dropped off soon after you did. I'm not used to eating such a big meal in the middle of the day. Or drinking wine.'

'Me neither.' Well, it was as good an excuse as any. That criminally ugly sweater felt deliciously soft under my cheek, and the fingers attached to the arm that was around my waist were lightly stroking my stomach. God, I could have died like that and gone out happy. 'Sorry. I'm not much of a guest, am I? Falling asleep like that?'

'You're a lovely guest. And you can fall asleep like this any time you want.'

'Um. Where's Wufei?'

'Making tea.'

'Oh.'

More food. They really did eat a lot. I remembered when Heero Yuy had considered that eating more than one protein bar at a time was pure gluttony. And he'd probably chewed bullets for roughage.

'It's just a light snack,' he assured me, laughing at my expression.

'OK. I'll probably head home after that.'

'Why?'

'Well, because it's where I live. Look, I know you asked me to stay the night and all, but it's probably better if I go back. I don't want to impose any more on you two. I mean, you've been really nice to me and I didn't even bring a bottle of wine or a pot plant or anything and…'

'Wufei,' Heero interrupted, and I suddenly realised his boyfriend was standing in the doorway, holding a laden tray. 'He wants to go home.'

Wufei walked over to us, setting the tray carefully on the floor. 'You two look very comfortable together. Why does he want to leave?'

'Apparently because he didn't bring us a pot plant.' Heero sounded vaguely amused.

'Ah. Just as well. That plant Sally gave us lasted less than a week, remember? Because someone forgot to water it.'

'It was ugly,' Heero said a little defensively. 'And there are two of us in this house.'

'I thought it was nice. I was away on assignment! It had instructions. And a little bottle of liquid plant food.'

I couldn't help grinning at this; they were such an old married couple sometimes. I wondered if they bickered like this over whose turn it was to mow the lawn, or empty the dishwasher. I'd always imagined them having strict rotas for chores but maybe not.

'Look, guys, can you stop talking about plants?'

Heero stopped in the middle of saying that he'd never officially accepted responsibility for the plant in the first place, and smiled at me. 'Of course. 'Fei, we're not doing a very good job of convincing him to stay.'

Wufei just laughed, dropping to sit beside me so I was bracketed between two warm bodies, and then looked at me with the weirdest expression, a blend of appraisal and predatory and hope.

'Kissing him seemed to be quite effective earlier. We could try that again.'

With Wufei, it had been a slow, delicate dance across stepping stones; a subtle exploration of unchartered waters. Heero Yuy does not do subtle, never has. It's all about achieving the mission goals.

He just dived straight in, heedless of currents or hidden rocks and it was devastating.

I'd dreamed of Heero kissing me since I was fifteen years old.

This time, in reality I was kissing him back.

'Stop,' I managed to pant it out, with every nerve ending in my body screaming for more. 'Heero. _Please.'_

_He did, instantly. 'What's the matter?'_

I sat bolt upright, straightening my borrowed clothes which had somehow got a bit messed up, pulling the t-shirt down as far as possible. I didn't even try to hide the bitterness in my voice. 'I think I get it now. You've been together what? Three years? Honeymoon's over, maybe you want to spice things up a little bit? Is that it?'

'You truly think that's what we want from you?' Wufei couldn't have looked more insulted if I'd impugned the honour of every Chang ever born.

'I don't know what to think! OK? Yeah, I can be your friend. It's great spending time with you guys, but that's it.'

'When you're not here, we miss you,' Heero cut in softly. 'We've hardly seen you at all the past couple of months.'

'Yeah, well,' I gave my braid a sharp tug. 'I told you why.'

'It doesn't have to be like that.'

'It _is_. You guys are a couple. You're happy. God, you're perfect together.'

'Oh, Duo.' Heero lay back against the couch cushions, pulling me with him. 'It's not about us lacking anything. We _are_ happy together, but it just feels wrong when you're not here.'

'As what? The third wheel?'

'Third wheels add stability and balance and strength,' Wufei murmured, kissing the top of my head gently. It felt right, having his lips there, like he'd done it a thousand times before, like it was a gesture of affection between lovers.

'People don't do things like that,' I said finally.

'And since when have any of us cared what _people_ do?' Heero asked me. 'Duo, ever since you came back to Earth, you've been a part of _us_. You helped us move into this house; you helped us choose the paints and redecorate; you even helped us to tame the jungle outside.'

I couldn't help grinning at that, remembering the three of us taking on some truly vicious rose bushes. Maybe that was why Treize had liked the damn things so much; they were _lethal_. 'That was fun.'

'It was fun because of you,' Wufei said, quite unexpectedly. 'For us, they were just jobs to be done as efficiently as possible. Missions,' he added, with a little sidelong smirk at his partner. 'But you made up all those ridiculous stories about roses plotting world domination, and made friends with the people at the DIY stores, and got so much advice from them, and bought those spray-painting guns. We have missed you very much, Duo, since you stopped being a part of our lives.'

'We thought, perhaps, that you felt the same way.' Heero sounded very hesitant, for him.

'I've missed you both like hell,' I confessed, resting my head on his shoulder. It had been a conscious, very deliberate decision that I'd made some time around Halloween, that I was going to stop being the odd man out in their relationship.

A new guy at work had made some comment I'd happened to overhear, about Heero being my boyfriend. Someone else had put him straight, but he'd been surprised that we weren't a couple, since we seemed to spend so much time together. But if people were gossiping about us like that, then Wufei and Heero were bound to hear eventually.

It had been nice, sometimes, when I was out with one of them, to pretend we were more than just friends.

Way too nice.

So I'd pulled back from both of them, keeping a very definite distance.

'We thought we'd done something to offend you,' Heero said quietly. 'When you started making it rather obvious that you didn't want to be around us.'

'God, no. I just didn't want to mess things up; I didn't want to come between you guys, ever. I _don't_.'

'And look at you now,' Wufei said quietly. 'Between us. And neither of us is complaining.'

'Not in the least,' Heero added.

'Um, nor me,' I said stiffly. God, it was heaven, being between them both. 'But I don't get any of this. What exactly do you want?'

They exchanged amused glances over my head. 'He really can be incredibly slow,' Wufei said. 'Maxwell, we want _you_. We want your friendship back; we want you to spend time with us, we want you back in our lives.'

'We want more than friendship,' Heero added, making everything clear.

Wufei smirked. 'Heero, he's not _that_ dense, I hope. Although we could have a great deal of pleasure convincing him of what exactly we do want.'

'_He_ is actually right here, you know.' Shit, I'd almost swallowed my tongue when he'd said _pleasure_ in that tone, lingering over the anticipation of it.

'Mmm. We've noticed.'

'Oh, good.' I was trying for sarcasm, didn't quite make it. This was real, not some crazy product of my insane imagination. Heero and Wufei…wanting me in their world. 'How...is this going to work?' I asked in a small voice.

Heero shrugged; a gesture he's picked up from me but that never looks right on him.

Wufei just raised his eyebrows. 'However we want it to. Duo, this is us.'

'What you mean, you haven't researched this subject exhaustively, complied a spreadsheet presentation, and written a thesis in three different languages? Seriously?'

'Actually, no,' Heero told me very seriously, and then one corner of his lip quirked. 'There is very little information available on the subject. We'll be making it up as we go along. That's your speciality rather than ours.'

'Um, am I dreaming all this?'

'Positively not.' Wufei gave my arm a little pinch and then bent his head to kiss the mark. 'Did that feel like a dream?'

'I have some pretty odd dreams.'

'Not a dream,' Heero took my chin in one hand, making me look at him. 'Very, very real. May I?'

'It's a bit late to start asking for permission, no? But yeah, go ahead.'

These are the things I got for Christmas. Calendars from my local garage and drycleaners, thanking me for my custom during the year. A little pile of gifts that I hadn't got around to opening, feeling vaguely guilty that I didn't deserve them since I hadn't bought anything in return. A full day's overtime at treble time.

A kiss from Chang Wufei.

More than one, with quite a few from Heero Yuy thrown in for good measure.

A space between them in their bed. A key to their front door, quite formally presented the next morning while we were having breakfast, although it was probably late enough at that point to be lunch.

There really isn't much point in getting up early when you're sandwiched between two gorgeous guys intent on keeping you in bed for as long as possible.

These are the important things that I got.

Hope and possibility and the universe righting itself around the three of us.


	3. Chapter 3

Note: Many thanks to KS for editing. Happy New Year to everyone!

**Chapter 3:**

Heero's carefully selected stone skimmed five - six - times over the waves before vanishing. Mine sank like a stone.

Heh heh.

It was harder than it looked.

'It's these damn things on my hands,' I grumbled, looking down at my hands, softly encased in cobalt blue mittens. Heero had dug them out of his closet and presented them to me, along with a matching scarf and hat. I felt like an idiot but at least I was warm. At least they didn't have snowflake patterns like Heero's.

'You'll freeze if you take them off,' Heero warned softly, taking my hands in his before I could tear them off. 'Besides, I think you look…'

'Don't you dare!' I interjected, resolving that if 'cute' or 'adorable' were the next words out of his mouth, then Mr. Yuy would be taking an unplanned winter swim.

'Very manly,' he finished, smooth as spreading honey, letting me go and handing me another stone. 'Try again. It's all in the flick of the wrist.'

'Oh, God,' I groaned. 'You've been waiting _how_ long exactly to use that line?'

He smirked. 'Wufei's going to be furious that I got to use it first!'

'You guys are way too competitive over the weirdest things.'

I was just starting to find that out. Just starting to find out a lot of stuff. Staying with them was a lot different to meeting up with them for a couple of hours every so often.

OK, some of the stuff I'd already known. Wufei was a morning person, who liked to get up early and make tea and potter about. Heero very definitely wasn't. They were both utterly paranoid about security; their house probably had a better alarm system than the White House. It had taken me a full hour to memorise all the codes. They were both exercise fanatics, but Heero preferred outdoor stuff like running and cycling while Wufei liked to work out in the gym. Which showed. Ahem.

They both liked watching those reality shows where the people opt out of their careers and head off to Tuscany or Provence to start a vineyard or something. Heero did most of the cooking and Wufei had a mildly disturbing fondness for doing laundry. I think they had every fabric softener ever sold. He'd slightly scared me by waxing lyrical about the joys of folding freshly washed, warm linens until I'd actually tried it and it was ….kind of nice.

'We'd better head back to the car,' Heero said suddenly, rolling up his coat sleeve to check his watch. 'They should be landing about now.'

'Yeah, sure.' I tried to summon up a bit of enthusiasm and didn't really get there. That was awful. Trowa and Quatre were two of my best friends. I should be madly looking forward to seeing them, and I'd been half-hoping for the last hour that Wufei would call from the port to say the L4 shuttle had been delayed, or diverted, or _something_.

'What are we going to tell them when they get here? Tro and Quat?'

'Happy New Year?' He suggested, grinning, and slipping one arm through mine as we walked on. I tensed for a second and then reminded myself that it was OK for him to do that sort of thing now. It wasn't as if there was anyone else on the beach, at lunchtime on New Year's Eve.

'You know what I mean.'

'Right. I don't know, Duo. I thought you'd have told Quatre already.'

'I haven't exactly had much of a chance, have I?' I tried to make it sound like a grumble, feeling my mouth stretch into a grin, despite everything.

Between them, they'd managed to keep me pretty well occupied over the past six days. I'd already booked time off between Christmas and New Year, and they'd somehow managed to wrangle most of it off too, although Heero was spending a couple of hours every day on his laptop, and Wufei had been into the office twice.

We'd gone for a couple of long hikes and cycles on sunny days. They'd taken me to their favourite restaurants and we'd gone to the newest blockbuster at their local cinema. Even going to the supermarket and then browsing 'round the sales at the mall had been a novelty. They'd insisted on stocking up with foods I liked, and then made me buy some clothes, threatening that if I didn't, then they'd buy them for me and tear up the receipts.

It had all been wonderful, but more in a 'three-guys-hanging-out' way, than in a 'we're dating' way.

Well, mostly. I'd been groped a fair bit in the back row of the cinema, discovered just how far the seats in Wufei's car could tilt back, and had them both play footsie with me under the white linen tablecloth in a very upmarket French restaurant.

Heero lifted an eyebrow at me, sensing that for the evasion it was.

'I'm not sure,' I admitted in the end. 'I just don't want him to think it's…..' My brain skipped over possible endings to that sentence from 'disgustingly perverted' to 'kinkily titillating and something he'd like to try for himself'. Probably what most people would think. 'Odd,' I finished, rather lamely.

Heero grinned. 'Because of course the empathic gay billionaire with enough sisters to start his own civilisation is the universal expert on normal. He will only be happy for you,' he said firmly. 'You know that. As for what to tell him, I don't know why you're even worrying about that. He's going to know.'

'Good point.' I swallowed, tasting sea spray on my tongue.

I stupidly hadn't even considered that, but of course he would know. I'd been worrying about the mundane stupid things, like how the three of us shared one room, and how neither of them could keep their hands to themselves around me.

Even without the empathy, it would be screamingly obvious. It still meant I would have to face someone else actually knowing that I was in this … threesome.

'When Wufei and I started seeing each other,' Heero said quietly, 'we were utterly paranoid about keeping it a secret, especially at work. When we eventually did tell people, we found out that most of our friends had already guessed, and the others didn't really care all that much.'

One elbow jabbed me slyly in the ribs. 'If you ever bothered to listen to office gossip, you'd find out that there are _way_ more interesting things going on than what we might get up to. Did you know Sharon in HR is seeing Russell in Accounting _and_ his twin brother and that now she's pregnant? Or that Peter in the mail office likes to be called Petronella when he's off duty? And you'd have heard all the rumours about why Une only hires young and attractive people.' He winked. 'Apparently, she has a very comprehensive interview technique.'

'Bald, body-building Peter? I don't believe you!'

'I _told_ you, it's a very interesting place to work. Three guys together might account for, oh, three minutes' gossip on a boring day.' He laughed suddenly. 'Your life might actually get easier if your female fan club knew you were taken, you know. You'd probably be doing them a favour; they could get their lives back instead of spending every waking hour plotting how to win your affections.'

'OK, now you are joking. Or mad. I hope.'

'Not at all. You must know you're the most eligible man in the whole organisation.' He gave me a soulful, sick-sheep sort of look. 'A daring freedom fighter turned hot-shot agent. Oh, you are just irresistible to every woman in the building. And not a few men either.' The sappy look morphed into something very different when he said that last bit, like a sheep that had suddenly sprouted fangs.

I snorted, bending down to pick up a shell with my free hand. 'Oh, please. That's ridiculous.'

'It's true. John in Accounting's opened a book on who you'll end up with.' He squeezed my arm. ''Fei and I could make a killing.'

'No! No killing.' I grinned reluctantly when I realised what I'd said. 'Look. This is all really new for me, OK? I'd rather just be discreet for a bit. Can we do that?'

'We'd never do anything you were uncomfortable with,' he said hastily. 'You have to know that.'

'I do, thank you, yes.'

I swung us both to a halt and gave him a lush, lingering kiss, just capturing his gasp of surprise. Probably the first time I'd really taken the initiative with either of them.

Apart from kissing and cuddling, there hadn't been a lot else so far.

The first night I'd shared their bed, I'd assumed something more would happen; that it was what they'd wanted. But we'd just cuddled a bit; nothing too heavy. Then they'd fallen asleep, like all of this was perfectly natural and normal, and I'd lain awake for hours, trying hard not to move, trying very hard to stop my heartbeat thudding like thunder.

I hadn't slept with another person since I'd been a little kid. Dylan had never stayed the night. We'd fool around and then he'd get up and leave. Now, I had the guys I'd spent years dreaming about wrapped around me.

I'd dozed off, eventually, but I still had trouble sleeping. I wasn't sure if they knew. They'd never said anything, but an afternoon doze on the couch had become part of the routine.

So had kissing, something I'd had no problem getting used to.

'We'd better go, love.' Heero pulled back from the kiss, sounding a bit reluctant. 'You're looking cold and I'd like to be home when Wufei and the others get there.'

I nodded. 'Yeah. Heero, thanks for coming with me.'

'No problem.' Instead of heading back to the car park, he just slipped behind me, winding both arms around my waist, resting his chin on my shoulder.

In the past year, I'd come out to this beach three times.. Dylan's birthday. The anniversary of his death.

And now today, with Heero.

'He'd have loved it here,' I said softly, letting the wind whip the words away over the waves. 'He wanted to see the ocean so much. He always used to watch those marine documentaries on TV. We were going to come, one day, when we could afford it.'

Heero didn't say anything, just held me, and eventually I felt myself relax into his arms. Let him hold me.

'What was he like?'

I considered. 'Like me, sort of. He'd had a pretty tough life. Didn't get on with his step-dad and left home when he was sixteen. He lived on the streets for a bit, and then a hostel, and some social worker got him on to a course to be a mechanic. I needed someone to help me at the scrap-yard, and he just turned up at the right time.'

Neither of us had known anything much about how to be in a relationship. Two tough L2 kids, needing to prove it all the time. Most of the affection had been reserved for the bedroom with the door shut and lights closed.

It had been nothing like it was with Heero and Wufei, and me now. There'd never been the endearments and casual touches and very obvious shows of affection, even in private.

'I don't know. It was different. It was my fault he died,' I confessed suddenly, the first time I'd ever told anyone.

He didn't recoil, just planted a gentle kiss just under my right earlobe. 'No, it wasn't. I saw the report. It was an accident.'

'I'd bought this bolt cutting saw,' I went on, ignoring him. 'The damn thing had probably been third-rate quality, even when it was new, and I'd got it about tenth-hand. I told Dylan not to use it 'til I'd had a chance to check it out properly, but I was out on a salvage run, and he needed to fix some stupid part, and the wiring was fucked up.'

The cops who'd investigated had said it would have been fast; the vicious rotary saw had sliced through some major arteries.

But my boyfriend had bled to death in my workshop because I'd been too cheap to shell out for proper equipment. On the way back, I'd stopped at a garage to buy petrol, and dawdled in the shop, drinking a cold soda and chatting to the girl at the till.

By the time I got back to the scrap-yard, the cops and medical services were there, and there was a crimson lake of blood on the floor, blooming against the grey concrete.

'Not your fault.' Heero was saying it over and over, holding me so tightly that it would have hurt if I'd let myself feel it. 'He was a grown man, Duo. You warned him to be careful.'

'Yeah. And it wasn't enough. Just another monumental Maxwell screw up.'

'No.' He turned me to face him, very gently. '_No_. Don't talk like that.'

'I'm so scared,' I said, when I finally got it out. 'That I'm going to mess you two guys up.' Like everything else in my whole life.

'Oh, no. Love, _no_.'

Locked in his arms, with kisses being feathered so softly over my face, and those blue eyes boring into mine, I could almost believe him.

'Never. But we'd be absolutely miserable if you left, you idiot. Now come on. Home.'

We made it home about five minutes before Wufei's car pulled up outside. I'd flicked on the radio the minute we got in the car and Heero hadn't objected. He held my hand the whole way home though, something I was starting to get used to.

Quatre came through the front door like a blond tornado while Wufei and Trowa were still unloading luggage, and wrapped himself around me.

'Well, it's about time! If Trowa hadn't told me to mind my own business, I would have had the Maguanacs kidnap the three of you _months_ ago!'

'They seem to have worked it out,' his boyfriend commented, coming in the door festooned with suitcases, and then pulling Quatre away from me and into his arms. 'You can stop cutting off his air supply now.'

'Yes,' Wufei agreed. 'Heero and I would prefer you didn't strangle him within the first five minutes.'

Quatre gurgled with laughter. 'I just _knew_ you two would be all protective. It's adorable! Duo, have they driven you insane yet?'

'Um, not quite,' I said a bit uncertainly, taken aback at how ….. oddly normal this all was; at how Trowa and Quatre were accepting it all so matter of factly. Neither of them batted an eyelid when Wufei gave me a quick kiss in passing,

The next few minutes were a bit manic, with Quat insisting on us opening the presents he'd brought and Wufei fetching drinks and Heero dashing around the kitchen to get dinner in the oven. Quatre had offered to take us all out for dinner somewhere, but in the end we'd decided just to stay at home.

Once the living room floor had been covered with the remnants of torn gift wrap, and Quat was perfectly sure we liked his gifts, he jumped up. 'Come on, Duo. We need to talk.'

'Well, that's subtle,' his boyfriend teased.

Quatre just stuck out his tongue, heading for the door. 'Subtlety's for the boardroom, silly. Or the bedroom. Duo! Come on!'

With Quatre, it's usually better just to give in straightaway. Anything else is just a waste of time.

In the spirit of getting it over with, I led him upstairs. The bed had been freshly made, and their lube and stuff were tucked away in a dresser, but I still felt a teeny bit embarrassed taking him into their bedroom.

'So?' Quatre bounced on the bed, pouting at me. 'You're supposed to be my best friend, Duo Maxwell. Why have you been keeping all of this such a secret?'

I flopped down beside him. 'It just happened a few days ago. I wanted to tell you in person.'

'Hmm. I suppose I can allow that.' He slid one arm over my shoulders. 'I am so very happy for you. And you look marvellous. It's lovely to see you wearing something other than black for once.'

I shrugged, looking down at the dark blue jeans, way more fitted than anything I would have chosen for myself, and the red sweater. 'They dragged me out shopping a couple of days ago. New image.'

'New everything,' Quatre said slyly.

'Yeah,' I acknowledged, letting myself fall backwards on to the mattress. 'New everything. Quat, I was kind of scared to tell you, actually.' I stared up at the ceiling. 'It's like…these past few days have been this amazing fantasy. Just the three of us in our own little world. I guess I didn't want reality rushing in just yet.'

'Oh, I know,' he assured me at once. 'I felt just like that when Trowa and I finally started dating. It's perfectly normal; you just want to have that little piece of time to yourselves.'

'Normal,' I echoed. 'Must be about the only thing normal about this whole set up, then.'

'I don't think any of us has a clue what normal is,' Quatre said softly. 'I'm from a colony where homosexuality was punishable by death, until a few years ago. I love Trowa more than anything in the universe, but there are still people on L4 who believe I'm perverted for feeling like that.' He shrugged. 'You have to find your own happiness, Duo, not run away from it.'

'Ah, shit,' I moaned, rolling over and resting my chin on a pillow. 'Why do I have to be best friends with an empath, out of all the people in the world?'

'Because you love me,' he returned brightly, 'and because you need someone sensible in your life to tell you what to do. They do love you, and you're good for them too. I think the three of you could be wonderful together, but you do need to reassure them that you're not going to run away. That you're not just acting out some little holiday fantasy before going back to your reality.'

'I'm not, Quat!' I burst out, and then thought about it, because in a way I was doing just that. I was cherishing every moment, hoarding up every little touch and endearment, because at some point I'd have to go home.

'You see?' he asked, almost sadly, the pain reflected in his eyes. 'They aren't stupid, Duo. They're worried about what happens next, and knowing you, you're probably turning cartwheels to avoid talking about it.'

'It's just…hard to believe it's real.'

'I know.' He was still looking at me, but his eyes were seeing some other long ago memory. 'I do know how hard it is. I still find it hard to believe, sometimes, after what I did, that Trowa…that he can love me. But it's not fair to him, to doubt him like that. Do you see what I mean?'

'I think so.' I sat up slowly, fluffing the pillows back into place against the headboard. 'Yeah, I get you. I'll talk to them.'

'Talking is always good.' He flicked me a naughty little grin and patted the mattress 'So, am I allowed to ask how the …non-talking part of the relationship is going?'

'Quat! It's fine.'

'That bad? Oh dear!'

'No!' I was searingly, scorchingly scarlet. 'It's great. I mean, we haven't done a lot but it's been….you know. Pretty amazing.'

He nodded. He was the only person I'd ever really talked to about Dylan. The one who knew I'd fallen in love with Heero Yuy at first sight. He knew I'd been having the odd moment of Wufei-attraction. He knew everything, really.

'Um, Quat, is that….you know, normal?' We both grinned at the word. 'You know, that we're not jumping on each other straight off?'

'It's different for everyone, really.' His grin broadened. 'I practically had to tie Trowa up, in the end, and you'll probably have to do the same. You know, neither of them would dream of pushing you into anything, so you'll have to be very obvious about what you want from them.'

'I do know that, yes. OK, we'd better go back down. Heero gets snarky at people being late for meals.' Which happened to be true, but it was also a handy enough excuse. I really wasn't sure if I wanted to have Quatre Winner giving me tips on sex.

Dinner was wonderful, like all the meals Heero cooked. After, we looked at photos of Quat's new baby niece and some baby lions and ponies at the circus, and opened more wine, and just talked about little things.

It was nothing the five of us hadn't done before, but this time I had Wufei sitting beside me, and Heero on the floor between our legs.

We turned on the TV at midnight, just to watch the fireworks and my best friend flung himself on his partner at the stroke of twelve.

I glanced at Heero and Wufei, not sure if they were going to pull me in for some sort of three-way kiss. Instead, Heero took my hand, and we went into the kitchen, the three of us.

'This is yours.' Heero fished in his pocket and handed me a key, the one they'd given me the morning after Christmas. I'd thanked them and put it in the little dish on the hall table, where they kept their car keys, and forgotten about it. I'd vaguely thought that it was a nice gesture but that I'd probably never use it. After all, when I visited their house in future, they'd be there to open the door for me.

Then he cleared his throat, like he was going to make a speech. 'We would like, very much, for you to consider this your home in the future.'

Wufei's hand was on my braid, suddenly, running up and down. It was a habit he'd developed over the last week; I wasn't sure if he ever realised he was doing it any more.

'Please?' he added.

The metal key in my hand was very cold. Cold as space; cold as that in-between space between _yes_ and _no_ before you make a decision.

I closed my fingers about it, feeling the ridges against my skin, thinking about what Quatre had said. They would never, never push me into anything. I knew that. This, probably, was as blatant as they'd dare to get, to invite me permanently into their lives.

I could feel the key in my hand slowly warming, from my body heat.

_Yes_.

'Yes,' I said quietly, and then they were kissing me; more fireworks exploding, but in my head this time.


End file.
